In a typical double bearing reel, a spool for winding a fishing line is rotatably installed between left and right side plates of a reel body, and a spool shaft for rotating integrally with the spool is supported on both sides thereof by the reel body via bearings (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-81883 (the “'883 Publication”)).
In actual fishing operation of such a double bearing reel, a fishing line is reeled out and in sequentially. In reeling out a fishing line, the spool in a free rotation (clutch-off) state is thumbed with one hand to prevent overspeed (backlash) thereof, the hand gripping and holding the reel body and the fishing rod. On the other hand, in reeling in a fishing line, a portion of the reel body opposite to the handle side is gripped and held with one hand along with the fishing rod, the other hand operating the handle.
To grip and hold the reel body in reeling out and in a fishing line, the reel body is pressed at an outer circumferential portion thereof outside the side plates with the thick of a finger and retained not to move. Such a retention state is important to grip and hold the entire reel stably and firmly particularly in palming the entire reel such as a bait casting reel
However, as in the '883 Publication, a typical double bearing reel merely has edges of the outer circumference of the side plates of the reel body slightly rounded (protruding outward in an arc-like shape) or slightly chamfered in a straight line. The edges of the outer circumference of the side plates having such shapes cannot retain a finger well and make it difficult to hold the reel body firmly by pressing the edges with the thicks of fingertips. This causes poor grip retention particularly in palming the entire reel body (palming performance) and causes strained gripping with the fingertips, and prohibits smooth fishing operation for a long period due to pain in the fingers.